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How to prune apple trees: A 3-part video series

March 23, 2018

Produce more high quality apples by pruning

Annie Klodd, Extension Educator-Fruit and Vegetable Production

Perhaps you've recently planted some apple trees, and you are ready for the next steps to help them produce a healthy crop of fruit. Or maybe you just moved into a home with a couple of trees in the yard. Either way, pruning will be a crucial part of caring for these apple trees.

Why prune?

Pruning is essential for reliable fruit production from year to
year. If left to their own devices, apple trees will develop dense canopies and
many small fruit with uneven ripening, reduced quality, or generally lower
productivity. Pruning focuses the tree’s energy into producing larger, higher
quality apples and increases airflow through the tree, reducing disease
potential.

How to prune an apple tree

Last month, we went outside to the apple orchard at the University
of Minnesota Horticultural Research Center to film a three-part video series on
pruning apple trees called "Apple Tree Pruning Made Easy." Thank you to David Bedford and Emily Tepe for assisting us
in this effort. You can watch by clicking on the video boxes below:

Apple Tree Pruning Part 1:

Apple Tree Pruning Part 2:

Apple Tree Pruning Part 3:

How often should I prune an apple tree?

Apple trees should be pruned every year during dormancy. Early spring
is a great time to prune, after the coldest winter temperatures have passed but
before the trees break dormancy and bloom. Branches vary in sizes, so a mix of small
hand pruners, loppers, and a hand saw will help cut various sized branches more
effectively.

Pruning goals

When pruning an apple tree, keep these three goals in mind:

Eliminate dead, damaged, and diseased wood.

Thin out enough branches for sunlight to penetrate throughout the tree canopy

First, pruning should
focus on maintaining productive branches containing fruiting buds, while
reducing the amount of excess vegetation that is either less productive or is
getting in the way of sunlight reaching the fruit throughout the tree. Pruning
involves eliminating some fruiting buds, and that is okay.

Look for places in the
tree where branches are overlapping or crossing each other, and remove the one
that is less productive or is interfering more with the rest of the tree.

Remove all “water sprouts,” meaning thin, unproductive shoots that are growing
vertically from a main branch.

Remove branches growing downward as well.

Keep
the branches near the top of the tree shorter than those closer to the bottom. For
more information on choosing where and how to prune, please watch
the video series.

Pruning should be repeated every year to maintain healthy trees
and high quality harvests. For more information on caring for apple trees,
visit these links: